Contending for the Gospel
Christ glory, peoples soul, and the church are at stake when we move from the gospel.
Introduction
No Other Gospel
6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— 7 not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. 9 As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.
10 For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.
The Departure (6-7a)
6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— 7 not that there is another one,
Two reasons for his astonishment of their departure:
Their turning away form the gospel was serious. Deserting = changing allegiances.
They were turning away. “Deserting” is a good translation because the word was first used in a military context for traitors and turncoats. Later it was used to describe anyone who converted from one religion or philosophy to another. The Galatians were betraying their allegiance to Jesus Christ and going over to the other side. The fact that the verb occurs here in the present tense is significant. It describes something the Galatians were in the process of doing at that very moment. But they had not done it yet, so there was still a chance to stop them.
We do poor service to Christ and his church when we indiscriminately lead men and women to profess faith in Christ but then leave them vulnerable, like the exposed infants of ancient Rome, to the ravenous wolves that seek their destruction
The Turning away from the gospel happened so soon!
BUT Their turning away was not hopeless
Their turning away form the gospel was serious. Deserting = changing allegiances.
The Distortion (7b)
but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.
The Warning (8-9)
But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. 9 As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.
Because the gospel is God’s gospel, there will never be another. To be sure, the gospel has its rivals. There are religions such as Islam that claim to be based on the revelation of angels. There are cults that claim to have a special message about how to be saved from the coming judgment. There are even Bible scholars who take Galatians and say that the Protestant Reformers were wrong: it is not really about justification by faith alone after all. This is the approach taken by advocates of the New Perspective on Paul and the law, in which Galatians is reinterpreted as focusing on Jewish-Gentile relations and not on the more ultimate question as to how sinners can be righteous before God.
To any and all challengers we give the same answer that Paul gave to the Galatians: “But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed” (Gal. 1:8). To show that this was not a rash exaggeration, fueled by excessive passion, but his mature and settled judgment, Paul virtually repeated himself: “As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed” (Gal. 1:9). In this verse the apostle speaks in the indicative rather than in the subjunctive. Verse 8 was hypothetical (“if anyone should preach”). Verse 9 is actual (“if anyone does preach”). Paul is addressing the real situation in Galatia, where false teachers were preaching a false gospel.
The true gospel is not only the one that Paul preached, but also the one that the Galatians accepted. Anyone who preaches any other gospel is, to put it literally, “anathema.” This is the Old Testament idea of “a person or thing set apart and devoted to destruction, because hateful to God.” To be anathema is to be under the divine curse, like the Canaanite cities that God utterly destroyed. Paul is saying that he would be damned if he ever preached another gospel. Anyone who teaches another gospel is subject to the wrath and curse of God.
There is no other gospel. Sinners must either receive this one true gospel or be eternally condemned. God offers the free gift of eternal life, through faith in his Son Jesus Christ, who died for our sins and rose again. If we reject this gift, what else can God possibly do to save us?
The Ambition (10)
For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.